It is bad enough that he is omnipresent like a Cheshire
cat on the airways, on line, wherever you turn, but to have him as a “neighbor”
as well is pure overload. I suppose he
misses the gold-plated Mar-a-Lago and the opportunity to play on his own golf
courses in the sun. More likely, it is
the procession which draws him here, the parade of pomp and preparation, and
his brand being brandished.
Days in advance our local newspaper breathlessly
announces his highness’ arrival, expectantly and cautionary as it causes total
disruption in the area. This coming
visit involves Chinese President XI and his entourage who will be staying at
the Eau Palm Beach which used to have the more hotel-like name of Ritz Carlton. I once stayed there for a big corporate conference
myself. It’s palatial, but I suppose
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago gives it a good run for its money. So you can catch Xi at the Eau.
Palm Beach County – and in particular Palm Beach itself –
will be a traffic nightmare. Thus far
the expense of these numerous Trump visits is borne by the County. Trump makes a big deal of donating his $78k
quarterly salary to the US National Parks Dept, while cutting its parent
Department of the Interior’s budget by $2 billion. According to my math, it’ll take him more than
6,000 years of donating his salary to make up the difference. Maybe I have an extra zero someplace, or
missed a zero as it seems like a VERY long time but if he lasts 6,000 years in
office, all the more power to him. It could happen as everything he does is
amazing, big time, etc.
He refuses to pick up Palm Beach County’s expense of
guarding him so he can play golf in the sunshine. Perhaps the County’s officials should read
“his” Art of the Deal and walk away from the table, go protect yourself, Donald. It might be the only way they/we can get
reimbursement for those expenses. But
the County officials like to delude themselves that as Trump’s visits put Palm
Beach County in the limelight that will increase tourism and thus drive tax
revenue. Do you want to visit PBC
because Trump is frequently here? I
guess Washington DC’s tourism is on the wane as the star is rarely there on
weekends.
I can’t imagine why the Chinese delegation agreed to meet
at Mar-a-Lago where Trump can flaunt his ego.
After all, there are very weighty issues to be discussed. Where does one
get the idea that these can be easily discussed while teeing off on a golf
course? Why not stay in the White House
where there is a bowling alley? They can
discuss the issues while joking about Trump’s 7-10 split. Trump is a good golfer (my neighbor is one of
his pros) and he probably wants to play games he can easily win. Look at me!
This egomaniacal inexperienced President is now toying
with one of the most serious international issues of his presidency, the
growing threat of North Korea. Making
statements like, we’ll go it alone if China doesn’t act or Tillerson’s
inexplicable dropping of the mike simply saying “the United States has spoken
enough about North Korea. We have no further comment," does not exactly
inspire confidence. We’re talking
nuclear war here, folks, not jobs for coal-miners. Not that the latter is unimportant but that
is in an industry that is dying because of alternative energy supplies,
including natural gas. It’s going the
way horse-drawn carriages when the automobile became dominant. Focus on the right stuff!
The first 100 days are not yet over but it already seems
like 1,000. There are so many issues
that keep me restless at night, day, whenever, the Syrian humanitarian crisis,
the impending Korean disaster, decimating environmental budgets and
regulations, the gas lighting of fake
news, Russia’s possible interference with the election and the general
vulnerability that the Internet and social media create, the continuing
inability of Congress to function, the callous consequences of misguided
immigration and refugee proposals, impracticable building of a wall in the
middle of the Rio Grande river while our Infrastructure is falling apart, tax
reform which will inevitably favor the rich including the removal of the
inheritance tax, unrealistic border taxes (and extremely difficult to
articulate and manage), and I can go on and on, but what’s the sense?
At mid-term elections I will cast my one vote, if we last
that long – given the consequences of the ischemic seizure of our entire
governing process and the self-serving dilettantes now at the tiller. I’ve written often about DJT even though I
mightily try to ignore him, my resolve weak due to ongoing embarrassment for
our nation and, now, just plain fear. I write as a form of catharsis.
